The Sandy Beach Show

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ninety birthdays maybe, but not 120: Americans hope to stretch out life expectancy another decade or so, but they're ambivalent, even skeptical, about a fountain of youth.

Sandy Beach is talking about the survey this morning on WBEN.

A new poll by the Pew Research Center explores attitudes about a scientific quest: Creating treatments that one day might slow the aging process and let people live decades longer than is normal today.

Scientists already can extend the life span of certain laboratory animals - mice, worms, flies - with various techniques. They've also tried with monkeys, although the evidence in that species is mixed.

There's no way to know if there ever will be some type of Methuselah pill for humans.

But with the field growing, Pew took the public's pulse and found most Americans wouldn't want a treatment that would let them live to 120. Fifty-six percent said no thanks - although two-thirds expect most other people would want to try such a step, said the report issued Tuesday.

Few expect such a radical idea to become reality, at least by 2050, although most of those surveyed expect other medical advances that could more gradually extend life expectancy, such as better cancer care.

When asked about living to 120 or beyond, the survey found 51 percent of people said that would be bad for society. They worried about a strain on natural resources, and that such treatments probably would be available only to the rich rather than to everyone.

What is the ideal life span? To most Americans, it's between 79 and 100; the median answer was 90 years, Pew reported.

In the U.S., a child born today can expect to live 78.7 years. Women's life expectancy is longer, 81 years, than men's, 76.2.

With a rapidly graying population that is bringing concern about the growth of Alzheimer's disease and an overburdened Medicare system, caution about the idea of one day living even longer may not be surprising.

But longevity pioneer Cynthia Kenyon of the University of California, San Francisco, wonders if the public understands the real goal of such research, which is better health.

Many of the experimental animals whose lives have been extended look and act far younger - and are far healthier - than their untreated counterparts of the same age, she said.

"It would be the equivalent of a 90-year-old person that you think is looking like a 45-year-old," Kenyon told The Associated Press.

Because aging itself underlies the development of many chronic diseases as our bodies break down, the theory is that slowing the aging process might help keep people healthier for longer - even if it's never as dramatic as what has happened with animals.

"We are very interested in not only life extension, but extension of the health span," said Dr. Marie A. Bernard, deputy director of the National Institute on Aging, which pays for much of this research.

Research into life extension began with the discovery that severely restricting calories in lab animals - they regularly consume 25 percent to 30 percent less than normal - makes them live longer. Remarkably, they also were healthier than their litter mates.

That led to the discovery of various genetic alterations that control life span. Kenyon's research, for example, found that altering a single gene doubled the life span of roundworms, which stayed healthy until near the end. Other researchers have discovered similar aging-related gene mutations in different species.

What about people? Some research has found healthy centenarians are more likely to harbor similarly protective genes.

The next step is to find medications that might somehow switch on those protective pathways, rather than drastic dieting or gene manipulation. A number of candidates have worked in animals. Just last month, NIA researchers reported that a low dose of the diabetes drug metformin improved the health and longevity of middle-aged mice.

No anti-aging pill is ready to try in people yet. Aging specialists say for now, common-sense is the best medicine: Eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight and exercise.

Asked about the poll, graduate student Katie Lebling, 24, of Washington said good health is key to how long she'd like to live: "It depends on how happy I am, if I was able to move or if I'm just sitting in a rocking chair."

If good health was a given, others wouldn't mind living to 120. "I'm curious to see how things now would be then," said John Gold, 38, a San Francisco software engineer.

The Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project survey was conducted from March 21 to April 8, 2013. The nationally representative survey involved interviews, conducted on cell phones and landlines, with 2,012 adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

CBS aired a 60 Minutes interview with President Obama. But curiously enough, the news magazine show did not air a clip of Obama admitting to interviewer Steve Kroft that some of his campaign ads contain mistakes and that some even "go overboard." They did, however, post the clip online. You can check it out here.....

I recently got this email regarding the Tea Party movement and Jim Ostrowski in particular. And my response to the emailer(who I'm kindly keeping anonymous:)) follows!

Anyone who claims they are a leader of the Tea Party immediately invalidates themselves as being aligned with this grassroots movement.

We have no leader and desire no leader. This may be hard to comprehend for some but it is actually quite effective. There are a select few who try really hard to create a coalition where they claim to be a leader of that group - people such as Jim and his small organization. Jim O and Allen Coniglio are highly controlling and seek top down centralized management. Allen views himself as the general and the members of his group as his foot soldiers that must comply with his and Jim's orders. They view anyone that does not their orders as traitors.

The Tea Party and assocaited reform groups are strong in this region and we are getting stronger - we are a loosely formed group of grassroots members that share resources across groups where we agree on issues and step aside where we choose to disagree without trying to force our will on those that do not support certain activities. There are activities going on frequently - examples include:

This past Saturday:
1). Buffalo 912 Project (Laura Yingling) held flash mob of kindness where a decent sized group showed up at local soup kitchen and dropped off a large donation of food.
2). Rochester's Fredrick Douglas Foundation this past Saturday (Chaplain Ayeesha Kruetz who is a strong supporter of TP and is a black American) held screening of the movie: "Why Democrats fear a black republican president". This same group, which has several of the Paladino Tea Party folks as members, is holding a banquet on 12-November as part of a sponsorship program for inner city black American girls that will be funded over the following 12 months. Tea New York is a stronger supporter of this organization and a sponsor and we are networking with them and some of our members attended and are attending both events.
3). This Wednesday is he Foundations of liberty meeting where a group is reviewing the book "The 5000 Year Leap" - this is a 912 sponsored event.

Lots of activities and networking - no leadership but lots of coordination when we have common ground. We have a very solid organization that is growing State wide. These are exciting times.

Back to JO - he is a individual contributor and like many of us has had great accomplishments, such as the recent Libertarian Ron Paul event. In regards to him being Tea Party I do not believe he shares many of our same values - he is more of a Libertarian which is distinctly different from Tea Party and should not be confused with the TP organization.

Jim adopted the TP name because he saw an opportunity to leverage it for his Libertarian based objectives. You will see that Jim may seperate from the Tea Party movement if he sees a better opportunity in the OWS movement to progress his own personal objectives.....take that for what it is....

The Tea Party members now know Jim well state wide and not many support his positions - some strong Libertarians do support his values and positions and this is his base and where he belongs - he is not TP.

Note - A transformation is in progress both in Buffalo and Rochester and it will grow state wide. The inner city folks have reached a limit and a conservative movement is rising that is aligning with the Tea Party....this will take time to build trust and develop but it is growing.

Best regards

++++++++++My Response?

It is really quite amazing to me how many people have a deep inner need for recognition. It seems that being a part of something worthwhile simply isn't enough. They feel that their immense contribution to "The Cause" must be recognized consistently, and on a grand stage. In their race for the Microphone,TV camera, or print reporter..not to mention incessent blogging ,that they are missing the big picture. It is not about them..but it's all about the "Cause." My greatest fear is that we will miss an obvious opportunity to defeat President Obama because of the in-fighting within the Tea Party movement. While preening and posing for the great unwashed, a divided Tea Party is a defeated Tea Party. While strutting around like Peacocks..the President is raising a Billion dollars and has a core backing that would vote for him under any,and all, circumstances. Get away from the mirror for awhile..quit trying to take credit for everything including the discovery of fire,and the invention of the wheel..blend into the movement instead of trying to prove that you started it with the sheer magnitude of your very special being. In Kenny Rogers song called "The Gambler" the lyrics say "Therell be time enough for counting,when the dealings done>" I hate to tell you this but the game stiill has a year to go..so le't not blow it.